Individual taste in books varies as much as the favorite rod or fly.
With that in mind, we hope to review books and videos from the ever-growing
fly fishing world, and share them with you. Books will be the best of
all worlds, new and old. Many of the old books are now available in
reprint, and the wisdom contained is timely today. Others can be found
in second-hand book stores, or by mail order dealers. As we find videos
we feel are outstanding they will be included. Be assured, reviews are
based on what we have actually read or viewed, and due to that fact,
may not appear weekly.

THE HISTORY OF FLY FISHING

Reviewed By Tom Travis - Jul 1, 2013

Anyone who has read any of my personal work fully understands my devotion and interest in the history of fly fishing, therefore in my opinion this is one of the most outstanding published works on the history of this great sport that has been published to date. Normally I do not mention the authorship of the forward or the preface in my reviews, however in this case I believe it to be important as Fred Buller is one of the leading angling historians in the United Kingdom and the same can be said for John Betts in the United States.

I first became familiar with the work of Andrew Herd in 2002 as I received a copy of first edition which was entitled The Fly, published in 2001, from a friend who shares my interest in fly fishing history. I was soon engrossed in the information that I encountered in this volume and have often used it as a major research source. However the first edition did not have an index which makes the research a bit more difficult but this new addition has an index and with the updates and revisions makes this volume much improved over the first edition, which I thought was an outstanding work in its own right.

I know that fly fishing history tends to put some fly anglers to sleep, however I am always amazed by how modern the tactics and advice of those anglers of yesteryear can be and how the advances in tackle have changed the methods and manners of fly fishing.

This volume is a must for any angler who is serious about charting the course of the history of fly fishing and learning from the anglers of yesteryear.

THE HISTORY OF FLY FISHING
BY: ANDREW HERD
Volume One----The History
Third Edition, Updated and Revised 2011
Published by The Medlar Press Limited,
ISBN 978-1-907110-12-2
440 pages in Length, $75.00, www.medlarpress.com
With the Forward by: Fred Buller
Preface by: John Betts